Jazz Buss is published fortnightly by Free 2 B Global Media; Covering all points on the jazz compass - performances, both by Jamaicans and visitors locally and overseas, reviews, new artistes and releases, events and commentary

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Couldn't resist posting this exchange and appeal . Some things should stay as they are

Hi-De Ho, CAB CALLOWAY HOUSE SHOULD BE PRESERVEDRelease Date: June 13, 2008Greenburgh Town Clerk Judith Beville and I met with Cab Calloway¹s daughteryesterday. Cecelia Calloway is seeking assistance with a project to preservethe Cab Calloway house at 1040 Knollwood Road as a historical landmark.Greenburgh played an important role in music, jazz and the arts during thelast century. It is our hope that we can prevent the house from beingdemolished. If you¹re interested in working with us in our efforts to savethe Calloway House and to preserve the property as a historic landmarkplease e mail me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com and Judith Beville atjbeville@greenburghny.com. The following is a letter received from CeciliaLael Calloway today.PAUL FEINER

Hi-De-Ho Paul Feiner,

I am Cecelia Lael Calloway, the daughter of Cab Calloway and I¹m seekingyour assistance with a project that I strongly believe will benefit the Townof Greenburgh in several ways. My father, Cab Calloway, called Greenburghhome for many years. He truly loved living in this town and he often said hewould like to have his legacy kept alive here. I want to acquire the houseon Knollwood Road and use it as base to celebrate his life, music, andlegacy. I envision this location being used to preserve an important pieceof Greenburgh¹s history, provide many educational opportunities to learnabout the cultural and musical history, and provide a location to featurejazz performances, dance, sculpture, display memorabilia from Dad¹s life,photographs, story telling and a functioning recording studio.

Your support would be such a great honor to me, my family and dad. Ibelieve it is imperative to save, preserve and operate the old Calloway homewhere I met so many great celebrities visiting Dad. My associates and I areembarking on preserving the energies and spirits of celebrities and friendsof yesterday who visited dad in celebration at our old home.

The house is currently for sale and I understand developers have showninterest in acquiring the property for possible subdivision, meaning thedemolition of this historically valuable location. We need to move quicklyto make this dream happen. I believe the best vehicle for maintaining thislocation on a longterm basis would be to form a local charitableorganization or foundation that would:

1. Operate exclusively for charitable, educational, and civic purposes asreferred to in Sections 501(c) (3) and 170 (c) (2) of the Internal RevenueCode, generally referred to as ³exempt purposes².

2. To promote and fund the preservation of Cab Calloway name, likeness,music history and legacy locally and worldwide.

3. To produce fund raising events, activities and concerts for the Callowayhouse revival and preservation.

4. To purchase, renovate and expand the old Calloway home (1040 KnollwoodRd., White Plains, N.Y.) with showcase rooms, sound recording and musicfacility for continuous Calloway operations and projects

5. To sponsor multi-media, music and arts programs and projects forunderprivileged youth, youth at risk, the school system, the localhistorical and arts organizations, and places of Higher learning such ascolleges and universities.

Of course, these are preliminary ideas, but I think with your help, and thehelp of any interested groups and citizens, we can preserve this importantpiece of Greenburgh¹s history. If this dream is to become reality, time isof the essence, the clock is ticking and the wrecker¹s ball is loomingnearby.I hope you will join me in getting the word out to those who might beinterested in making this happen.

Left to his own clearly very joyous devices, pianist/composer/all-round Jamaican legend Harold Butler may well ahve gone on playing well past midnight at Christopher's this past Tuesday.

With Chris Tyrell (drums) and Maurice Gordon and Mfonabasi taking turns on bass, 'The Butler' unleashed a series of uninhibited runs on the keyboard, delving into everything from staright-ahead jazz, funk fusion, roots reggae and his own substantial Jamaican pop catalog, including the timeless 'Love Me Forever' immortalised by the late Cynthia Schloss and Beres Hammond's 'One Step Ahead'

He extended each set by several tunes and looked as if he had hardly worked up a sweat. Not so the adoring crowd, who visibly made drnks and chatter a secondary priority as they absorbed every bit of the maestro's release.

Should make the upcoming Battle of the Ivories at Jazz in the Gardens on Sunday that much more interesting.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Pianist Ronnie Matthews, of Bajan descent, has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.One of the most highly respected and admired jazz musicians, Matthews was a journeyman who managedto stay just under the radar of celebrity. He performed here in Kingston in the 1980s atthe legendary Blue Monk, and is also known for his time in the jazz-funk out fit TS Monk, led by TS Monk Jr. (they hada hit in the 80s with a track called The Good Life)

Changing personal situatio and some computer issues have been a challenge, but Recent Auditions will return this week, with my take on JD Allen's I Am I Am, and CDs by David Murray and Hiromi and possibly new Brian Blade Fellowship CD Season of Changes

.....Certainly not me. Not that its surprising that a great musician has Jamaican connections, but I simply hadn't heard that before. Check out the sounds of Jamaican Dolphy & other great music makers all this week on Riffin'

RIFFIN’S RUNDOWN FOR WEEK 23/6/08, AT NEWSTALK 93FM, AT 8.35PM

STREAMING LIVE AT WWW.NEWSTALK.COM.JM

MONDAY: Cassandra Wilson, the singer, after a 20 year break from recording “standards”, has done so again, in a new album”Loverly”, and in her own inimitable fashion.

TUESDAY: Two other female singers, less well know than Cassandra Wilson-- Stevie Holland, and Joanna Pascale, serve the same muse of claiming and defining the music.

WEDNESDAY: Art Tatum’s piano prowess, unmantched to this day, has not dimmed in 50 years, as a specially recorded edition of “Piano Starts Here, Live At The Shrine” , reveals.

THURSDAY: Eric Dolphy, a shortlived, but brilliant musician, who was born in the United States of Jamaican parents. In 36 years, Dolphy was a singular voice, on the alto saxophone and bass clarinet.

FRIDAY: Dobet Gnahore, is Africa’s latest voice, a star on the rise. From the Ivory Coast, the riveting singer delivers songs in praise of African women, and calls on the continent to search for solutions to its problems, within.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

In a place where even jazz superstars are hardly known, Esbjorn Svensson was not a blip on the Jamaiacan radar but he was a much admired pianist and bandleader internationally.

jazz news, CanadaEsbjorn Svensson

Esbjorn Svensson1964-2008

Musician Dies in Scuba Diving Accident

Swedish pianist and composer Esbjorn Svensson, best known for his trio work with his group E.S.T., has died on Sunday in a tragic scuba diving accident. Svensson, who was 44 years old, leaves behind a wife and two children.

Considered one of the most influential figures in contemporary jazz, Svensson and E.S.T., his trio with Dan Berglund and Magnus Ostrum, gained international fame for their genre-breaking music. The group achieved cult status with younger jazz fans, often performing in rock venues.

E.S.T. were recognized on numerous occasions with with such prestigious honours as the European Jazz Award and the BBC Jazz Award. They were also the first European jazz group to be featured on the cover of Downbeat Magazine.

Esbjorn Svensson and E.S.T. were slated to perform at numerous Canadian jazz festivals this summer.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

It was enough, almost, to see a clutch of Alpha Boys School students and alumni, of various ages, gathered on the dimly lit stage of the Sir Phillip Sherlock Centre at the UWI Mona campus on Monday night; to see – and hear – a trombone line four players strong; to hear a ‘rising star’ of improvised music like trumpeter Shaniel Stewart skip across the register and begin to own his instrument and his sound in a manner that recalled the greats whose tradition he has inherited.

The presentation which celebrated and augmented that tradition also saw a brief duet from pianist Dr Kathy Brown and alto man (and Alpharian himself ) Tony Greene reliving the music, if not the moment of the maestros in tunes like Eastern Standard Time and Rockfort Rock.

And the treasures did not come solely from the live performers. There was knowledge, from the erudite former Jamaican Ambassador to the US, Richard Bernal, who expounded on the heritage of his alma mater, the New York City-based New School University (specifically the School for Social Research), which also houses the School for Jazz and Contemporary Music came the musical instruments and equipment that were donated. The was a short, sharp commentary from the Don Drummond Foundation’s Dr Clinton Hutton on the need to intensify the culturally-oriented social interventions of an Alpha Boys’ programme in the face of the nation’s mounting crisis of violence and underdevelopment.

And there was, from former New School faculty member, jazz club owner, record producer, artiste manager, and music lover Herbie Miller, and excellent audiovisual slide presentation on the development and worldwide impact of several Alpha alumni, most notably Joe Harriott and the enigma that is Don Drummond. The benefit of the addition of the audio clips, while certainly a must given the subject, cannot be overstated. The real beauty of the music, especially in Drummond’s case, is that labels become superfluous: there’s no need to call it dance music – the very sound itself is a dance, the lines skip and dart and pirouette so fluidly over the rhythms.

It’s the kind of music and the kind of erudition that deserved a far wider audience than turned up at the Centre – the room was scarcely half filled. But hopefully, there will be opportunities, especially in this Jazz Month, for repeat engagements on whatever scale. The young charges at the Alpha Boys, some wielding horns that were almost bigger than them, deserve some kind of audience for their dedication to walk in the giant footsteps of generations past.

THURSDAY: Hurricane “Katrina” brought havoc to New Orleans, and especially to one of its treasures-the new Oreleans musician. Dr Michael White, lost greatly but prayer and music have been his salvation.

Monday, June 02, 2008

RIFFIN’S RUNDOWN FOR WEEK 2/6/08, AT NEWSTALK 93FM, AT 8.35PM,MONDAY TO FRIDAY

STREAMING ‘LIVE’ AT WWW.NEWSTALK.COM.JM

MONDAY: Legend, Charles Lloyd, celebrates his 70th birthday, in the company of young musicians, who energize him—Jason Moran, Rueben Rodgers and Eric Harland.

TUESDAY: Two great singers from back in the day, Alberta Hunter and Billie Holiday.

WEDNESDAY: The bossa nova, a Brazilian beat that became globally popular, was started by a soft spoken singer, with a guitar, and a seductive beat. Jao Gilberto, whose female counterpart is Rosa Passos.

FRIDAY: Trombonist, Vin Gordon, also known as Don Drummond jnr, with a new album as leader. “UMALALI”, The Garifuna Women’s Project, presents the hidden voices of the Garifuna women to the world. Ace reggae drummer, Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace, is still one of the music’s best. Ainsley Burrows, a powerful new poet of word sound and power.

About Me

[soon-to-be-ex] husband of one, father of two, servant of God, I've been writing for over 15 years. In addition to features for Jamaica Observer newspaper, I have contributed to Jazz Times magazine and jazzreview.com. In addition to a bok on Jamaican jazz, I am presently working on a number of media initiatives